Man electrocuted while trying to steal

A man was electrocuted while allegedly trying to steal an electric cable in Bryanston on Wednesday morning, Johannesburg Emergency Management Services said.
"We received a call just after 7am about a man lying in the street. On arrival, the patient was showing signs of life but paramedics could not do a thing because he was lying underneath a live electrical cable... and it was wet on the ground," spokesperson Percy Morokane said.
Trapped between a puddle and a live cable
City Power was called to cut off the power to enable paramedics to work on the man, but by the time the electricians were done, the man was already dead.
"Paramedics tried everything in their power to revive the man, in his 50s, but he was certified dead on the scene."
It was believed the man had arrived at Bantry Road in Bryanston, extension seven with other men early on Wednesday, and that his accomplices fled on realising he was in trouble.
Second in four days
Wednesday's electrocution was the second in four days following another one on Saturday, Morokane said.
A 29-year-old man was taken to Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital with burns over more than 70 percent of his body after he allegedly attempted to cut a high voltage power line in Fordsburg.
"There was a massive explosion which knocked him metres off the scene."
It was not immediately known if the man survived.
"Electricity kills. We have said it in the past, and we'll say it again... the lure of easy money is great but the consequences are fast death because these cables carry thousands and thousands of high-voltage electrical current, and chances of survival are very minimal.(sic) It is suicide," he said.
Sapa